


A+ Parenting

by BekasStrife



Series: 'NoeHopu Collaboration Project' prompts [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XIII Series, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-31
Updated: 2013-07-31
Packaged: 2017-12-21 22:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BekasStrife/pseuds/BekasStrife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the 'NoeHopu Collaboration Project' at tumblr. <br/>Prompt: 'Imagine your OTP’s child getting sent to the principal’s office for a fight with another student. Your OTP goes and sorts it out, but Person B starts asking their child what he/she did to the other student and who won and eventually praising them for a fighting so well.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	A+ Parenting

"You can come in now."

When they had moved into the new world built by the god Bhunivelze, they all had to rebuild their lives from zero. Some kept their roots like Hope did, who had funded a new research institute so they could begin to understand the world they now lived in. Others decided to truly start anew, much like Sazh... who suddenly decided he didn't care about airships anymore and became a chocobo breeder with his son, Dajh.

One of those had been, _surprisingly_... Lightning.

Now going by Claire, actually.

Serah told him soon after the change that it was her birth name - he just felt the dumbest person on the planet over the fact _he actually thought Lightning was her real name_.

He was straying from the point, though.

Everyone had thought she would enlist in the military: it was only logical, right?

 _Wrong_.

Surprising everyone - except for her own sister and Hope, for reasons he would _never_ understand - Lightning had actually worked on building and ended up joining their very first _school_. School in which she was now the _principal_.

He respected Lightning. After everything they went through, he even ended up really liking her...

But the concept of her having so much control over a bunch of kids was a little _terrifying_. Especially when one of said kids was his and Hope's eight year-old daughter, who was doing her very best at looking tough under the Principal's piercing glare but ending up just looking a little  constipated.

Again, _terrifying_.

Making a sudden decision in the nick of time, Noel sat down instead. "I think I'll stay here." He said, waving Hope off. He ignored his flat look, clearing his throat instead. He would rather _not_ face Lightning's wrath over whatever had called them there. Hope was safe, he knew: Lightning _liked_ Hope. Besides... "I want to have a little talk with this little miss, first. I want to hear directly from her why me and her Dad got called in by the Principal." He said, peering down at the young child.

She wouldn't even look at him.

Only when Hope and Lightning disappeared behind the door of said woman's office did his daughter relax, the angry frown leaving her as fast as he could blink. Now she just looked terrified and downright _ashamed_.

Moving from the plastic chair he was sitting on to the floor in front of the girl in one fluid movement, Noel narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms on top of her little knees. "Nora." He called gently, urging said child to meet his eyes. "Please look at me."

It took a moment - a long one - but finally, the small girl looked from his hands up to his eyes. They were perhaps a shade lighter than Hope's and the reason that it lead them to chose Nora as her name. She had her namesake's eyes... Or so Hope told him fondly.

He knew his daughter. Nora was _kind_. Sweet. The kind of child that would watch her step so she wouldn't step on a small insect by mistake.

Noel had honestly been baffled when he had received the call from the school because his daughter had apparently socked a little boy in the eye. "Nora... What happened?" Grabbing her wrists when she refused to answer and hastily looked away again at the inquiry, Noel made sure to keep his grip gentle as he brushed his thumbs over the back of her hands. "Please, can you just tell Daddy what happened? Nora...?"

"... I hit Denny."

That was a start... but he already knew that. "And why did you hit Denny?"

Annoyance covered her face instantly. He often wondered how amazing it was that a child with such a friendly and kind face could manage to look like she'd gladly burn you to a crisp if she blinked. "He was _mean_."

"So you decided to be mean back?"

" _I_ wasn't mean!"

"You _punched_ him in the face. By the size of the bruise I saw on his face, his _grandkids_ will be feeling it." Seeing the girl's confused stare, Noel sighed and tried another approach. "Why was he mean? Did he call you a name?"

"No..."

"Did he hurt you?"

"... No..."

"Then what?"

Removing her hands from her father's gentle grip, Nora stared at his hands for a while until she was ready to answer. She absently started playing _hot hands_ with them but Noel simply went with it, familiar with her methods of opening up. If he forced her to talk, she would just close up like a clam, hence why he decided to stay behind in the first place. Lightning would just cause her to shut up late into her _thirties_. "... He pushed Syrus." Nora said at last.

Noel swatted at her hands. He missed on purpose. "Serah and Snow's boy?" At her nod, he hummed and swatted again. This time he hit the mark and moved his hands over his daughter's. "Why?"

"Cos he has pink hair. Denny said boys couldn't have pink hair."

"Why?"

"Cos it looked _stupid_ and _girly_ , he said."

"So you punched him?"

Getting a little red in the face, Nora swatted at his hands. She missed by an inch. "I yelled at him to stop first..." She murmured, kicking her feet a little. "But then Syrus got up to help and Denny pushed him down again and so I hit him so he'd leave Syrus alone..."

Leaning forward as the child's voice gradually faded as she kept talking, Noel remained stoic. In the inside though, he felt a little bubble of what he knew to be pride grow. It was hard to keep a smile off his face: his little daughter had a little _guardian_ in her. "So you were protecting Syrus." He got a nod. "Well... You know violence isn't the answer, right? Being mean to mean kids is just being as bad as them. You should have called a teacher."

"But by then Denny would have ran!"

"Even so, Nora. _Never_ fix things with violence. Talk it out instead. _Okay_?" Noel stressed, staring Nora down until the girl just nodded, sufficiently chastised. Leaning back on his heels, the brunet finally let the issue go for the time being and they continued their little game in silence.

Nora hadn't swatted at his hands three times before he broke. "Did he stop messing with you two, though?" He asked casually as Nora looked at him in surprise. She nodded hesitantly. "... His eye was really purple, though."

"... He cried a _lot_."

This time, Noel fought a smile. He failed _spectacularly_. "... Right hook? Like I showed you to, in case anyone messed with you?" He flexed an arm.

With a twinkle in her eye, Nora mimicked him. "Like you showed me to."

His daughter was kind, _yes_... But she also had a wicked streak he couldn't help _feed_ from time to time. Springing forward, Noel quickly latched onto the girl's sides, fingers tickling her mercilessly. "That's my baby girl!" He grinned excitedly, letting his squealing offspring go before he ruffled her hair and pressed a big kiss to her rosy cheek. "Again, violence isn't the answer." Noel said as sternly as he could with a smirk on his face, waving a finger beneath Nora's button nose. "But if every thing else fails..." He trailed off, holding up a fist that Nora smacked with her own.

"Do what, Noel?"

Freezing as the cold voice reached his ears, the brunet slowly looked up and saw not one but _two_ angry glares turned his way. _Oh_. _Oh crap._ "... Bake a cake made out of rainbows?"

"Nice try." Lightning smirked, seeing the way Hope's shoulders rose as he tensed. "And good luck trying to sweet talk your way out of this one."

"Lightning, _you_ \--"

"C'mon, Nora." Hope cut in, offering his hand to the girl and carefully helping her leave her plastic seat. "Time to go. Me and you have things to do."

"Things to do?"

"Yes, like preparing the guest room for your Daddy."

Hearing that, Noel let his head fall to his chest with a pained groan as Lightning chuckled all the way back into her office.

Hope was going to rip him a new one and he'd never live it down.


End file.
